In the current proliferation of Internet Protocol (IP) networking devices and virtual machine devices, there are typically two ways that individual computing devices are located on a network. The first is by means of an IP address, usually conforming to IPv4, but which may also be conforming to IPv6. IPv4 addresses are often assigned within a local numbering plan and utilize network address translation (NAT) in order to communicate via one or more routers over the Internet. NAT addresses are not generally usable for incoming connections from arbitrary Internet locations, and therefore most such devices are not intended to run applications that provide services to other devices via the network protocol. This presents a challenge for devices that require incoming connections.
The second approach is by means of a domain name via a Domain Name System (DNS) such as in the case of an addressable service. Dynamic updates of the DNS (DDNS) are commonly used to support devices with IP addresses that change, but DNS names must resolve to accessible addresses in order to be useful. Most user-specific client devices do not have addressable services, and therefore do not use DNS entries. In addition, solutions such as Dynamic DNS updates are not able to support propagation of rapidly changing addresses and therefore do not offer a reliable method of ensuring connectivity. However, the need for such services is growing with the needs of modern applications, such as gaming, VoIP, and other peer-to-peer applications.
A significant trend is the increasing proliferation of computing devices per user. Users are currently holders and owners of multiple devices, such as smartphones, PCs, laptops, tablet computers, gaming devices and may in future also use many more devices, for example; telepresence devices, medical monitoring devices and personal robotic devices. The depletion of the current IPv4 address space and the complexities associated with Network Address Translation (NAT) require the use of IPv6 to satisfy the addressing needs of large numbers of devices coming on line. However, the move to IPv6 will require significant infrastructure upgrades before this can happen.
Another trend is the growing number of mobile devices that are being used. The proliferation of various personal mobile computing devices presents a challenge for the registration, provisioning and tracking of these devices. For example, this has led to the situation where a mobile device may frequently change its IP address as it relocates. During relocation, the device may have multiple, active IP addresses. This means that an IP address cannot be used as a device identifier, even within a communication session, and such addresses may change unpredictably. Attempts to use additional protocols such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to resolve this issue have also been employed but do not prevent short term communication interruptions.
In order to maintain an addressing identity, a different addressing strategy must be used. One such strategy that is part of mobile IPv6 is to assign a home address to a device and have a home router that is able to track the real device address and route network packets to the device when required. Another applicable technology is the Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP) that requires a particular router infrastructure to simplify mobile addressing issues.
Yet another trend is the ease with which cloud-based applications and services can be deployed. It is desirable that users are able to call up applications and services on demand from a wide range of cloud providers and have them included within their own, personal network. Hence the automatic provisioning of virtual machine devices is very desirable, and being able to identify the virtual machine devices by IP address is a significant issue.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved approach to implement network association between devices that are associated with a particular user, to provide management and control over the devices, and to enable these devices to have a special messaging relationship with each other.